Innovation

Greater Sum Ventures Acquires Law Enforcement Platform Company Kologik

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 16, 2024

Entrepreneurial family office and growth equity firm Greater Sum Ventures (GSV) announced the acquisition of Kologik, a leader in responsive, scalable, and user-friendly software for law enforcement agencies.

Rising Team Raises $8 Million To Advance Employee Engagement Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

Rising Team, an industry-leading team performance platform, announced the completion of its Series A funding of $8 million. This funding round was led by Zeal Capital Partners alongside previous investors including Peterson Ventures, Roble Ventures, Female Founders Fund, Burst Capital, and Supernode Ventures. This funding round enables Rising Team to enhance its team performance platform with AI, hire new team members, and expand its market presence.

iCOMAT: Advanced Composite Manufacturing Company Raises $22.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

iCOMAT, an innovator in the advanced composite manufacturing space, announced the successful closing of its Series A funding round at $22.5 million. This funding round was led by 8VC, and co-led by NATO Innovation Fund. Other investors joining the round include Syensqo Ventures and existing investors Velocity Partners VC.

Liminal: Gen AI Data Security Company Raises $5 Million In Additional Seed Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

Liminal, a generative AI data security leader, announced that it has raised more than $5 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by Fin Capital. Participation came from High Alpha, Matchstick Ventures, Craft Ventures Scout Fund, and veteran regulated industry executives. This new funding expands Liminal's ability to quickly enable customers to deploy and use generative AI (Gen AI).

Zeta Labs: AI Research And Product Lab Secures $2.9 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

Zeta Labs, an AI research and product company that is developing autonomous agents capable of efficiently performing complex and multi-step tasks, announced the raising of its $2.9 million pre-seed round and the debut of its large language model (LLM)-based proprietary autonomous AI agent JACE. This funding round was led by Daniel Gross (former head of AI at Y Combinator) and Nat Friedman (former Github CEO), with participation from Earlybird VC and Kaya VC and AI Grant, Shawn (swyx) Wang, Bartek Pucekand Mati Staniszewski, founder of ElevenLabs.

Nium: Cross-Border Payments Company Raises $50 Million At $1.4 Billion Valuation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

Nium, a global leader in real-time cross-border payments, announced it has raised $50 million in a Series E funding round. A Southeast Asia-based sovereign wealth fund led this funding round and values the company at $1.4 billion post-money. The sovereign wealth fund joins other newly added investors from Nium's previous funding round, including BOND, NewView Capital, and Tribe Capital.

Testsigma: AI-Based Low-Code Test Automation Company Raises $8.2 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

AI-powered and low-code test automation platform Testsigma announced that it has raised $8.2 million in funding led by MassMutual Ventures. Previous investors Accel, STRIVE, and BoldCap also participated in the round.

Intuit To Buy Technology From Zendrive

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

Intuit, a global financial technology platform that makes Intuit TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, announced it signed an agreement to acquire technology from leading mobility risk intelligence provider Zendrive.

SiTration: Materials Recovery Company Secures $11.8 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

SiTration, a materials recovery company that is serving the mining and metals industries, announced it has raised $11.8 million in seed capital. This funding round was led by 2150 with participation from BHP Ventures, Extantia, and Orion Industrial Ventures. And previous investors Azolla Ventures and MIT-affiliated E14 Fund also participated in the oversubscribed round.

HyperSpectral: AI-Based Spectral Intelligence Company Closes $8.5 Million In Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

HyperSpectral, an AI-based spectral intelligence company with hardware-agnostic solutions for particle detection, emerged from stealth with $8.5 million in a Series A funding round. And HyperSpectral's Series A funding round was co-led by RRE Ventures and Kibo Ventures with participation from Correlation Ventures and GC&H Investments.

Understory: Insurance Platform Protecting Climate-Vulnerable Industries Raises $15 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

Understory, an insurance platform protecting climate-vulnerable industries from severe weather risks, announced the closing of a significantly oversubscribed Series A funding round at $15 million to drive its expansion into the renewable energy sector. This funding round, which was co-led by True Ventures and Prelude Ventures, emphasizes investors' strong belief in Understory's vision and expansion potential.

Eko Health: $41 Million Closed To Scale AI-Based Heart And Lung Disease Detection Technology

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

Eko Health, a company that is applying artificial intelligence for early detection of heart and lung diseases, announced it has raised $41 million in Series D financing. With participation from ARTIS Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, NTTVC, and Questa Capital, this funding round will be used to expand U.S. and global access to the company's early disease detection platform.

Thoughtly: AI Voice Agent Company Raises $3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

Thoughtly, a startup building AI voice agents for contact centers, announced it has secured a $3 million funding round with participation from Afore Capital, Greycroft, Expansion, and others. And through an innovative approach to customer phone calls, Thoughtly is prepared to disrupt the CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) space and transform how businesses approach customer service interactions.

IDC Network And Arena Investors Launch Flexible Capital Arm

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

IDC Network (a diversified private equity and venture capital asset manager and parent company of IDC Ventures, a global venture capital firm specializing in fintech and marketplaces) announced the launch of its newly created credit and flexible capital arm IDC Arena Credit Ventures through the formation of a strategic partnership with Arena Investors, LP. And Arena Investors is a global institutional investment manager with a solid track record of providing creative capital solutions to underserved borrowers globally.

Caju AI: Customer Engagement Company Raises $3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

Caju AI, a Gen AI-based solution for customer engagement, announced the successful closing of a $3 million seed funding round. This strategic investment is backed by Grotech Ventures, Felton Group (the family office of Charlottesville, VA-based hedge fund manager Jaffray Woodriff), and angel investors. This funding round propels Caju AI into a new phase of growth and innovation, reinforcing its position as a leader in AI-driven customer engagement and compliance solutions.

Advanced Medicine Partners: $32 Million Financing Agreement Executed

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

Advanced Medicine Partners, an organization that delivers process development, manufacturing, analytical development, and testing for advanced therapy products specializing in viral vectors for gene and cell therapies, announced a new financing agreement led by Deerfield Management, with additional support from ARCH Venture Partners and other investors. And upon the completion of this latest financing round, the total direct investment in Advanced Medicine Partners since its separation from Jaguar Gene Therapy will total up to $60 million.

Tether: $18.75 Million Raised From Blockchain-Enabled Firm XREX Group

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2024

Tether, one of the largest companies in the digital asset industry, announced a strategic investment of $18.75 million in XREX Group, a fully regulated and blockchain-enabled financial institution. This collaboration aims to drive transformation in the digital asset industry, facilitate USDT-based cross-border payments in emerging markets, and innovate regulatory technology.

U Of M’s Institute For Social Research Receives $195 Million In Federal Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 14, 2024

With around $195 million in new federal funding (the largest research grant in University of Michigan history), the Institute for Social Research will extend its long-running and influential Health and Retirement Study through 2029. This funding comes in the form of a grant from the National Institute on Aging (part of the National Institutes of Health), including co-funding from the Social Security Administration.

Hudson Acquiring USA Refrigerants In $20.7 Million Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 14, 2024

Hudson Technologies announced the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of USA United Suppliers of America (d/b/a USA Refrigerants) for $20.7 million, subject to customary post-closing adjustments, and up to an additional $2 million in potential earnout payments. USA is a national refrigerant distributor and it has been a leading purchaser of recovered refrigerants for over 25 years.

Sixfold: $15 Million Secured To Empower Underwriters With End-To-End Risk Analysis

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 14, 2024

Sixfold, a company empowering underwriters with a generative AI solution for end-to-end risk analysis, announced it has raised $15 millionin Series A funding. This funding round was led by Salesforce Ventures, with participation from Scale Venture Partners and all previous investors including Bessemer Venture Partners and Crystal Venture Partners. The funds will be used to continue building out its exceptional team of AI/ML engineers, further enhancing product capabilities and accelerating R&D efforts. This round will also help Sixfold expand beyond North American markets to the UK and the European Union.

YourSix: Cloud Physical Security Solutions Company Raises $10.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 14, 2024

YourSix, a cloud physical security solutions leader, announced that it has raised $10.5 million in Series A funding, led by Vocap Partners and joined by Eastside Partners. This funding round will accelerate growth, increase market presence, and advance its vision of transforming the delivery of commercial physical security solutions.

ControlUp: Empowering IT To Elevate Digital Employee Experiences

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 14, 2024

ControlUp reimagines Digital Employee Experience (DEX) management with true real-time visibility, enabling 20x faster issue resolution on any desktop, any application, anywhere. Pulse 2.0 spoke with the company’s new CEO, Jed Ayres, to learn about its groundbreaking capabilities.

VergeSense: Helping Companies Unlock Spaces And Increase ROI With Occupancy Intelligence To Drive Every Decision

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 14, 2024

VergeSense helps companies unlock the potential of their spaces to foster connection, inspiration, and sustainability. Pulse 2.0 interviewed VergeSense VP of Product Kanav Dhir to learn more about the company.

Digital Turbine: Michael Akkerman Joins As Chief Business Officer

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 13, 2024

Digital Turbine, a global leader in growth solutions for the mobile ecosystem, announced the appointment of Michael Akkerman as the company's new Chief Business Officer. For this role, Akkerman will lead the company's global go-to-market efforts, including sales, partnerships, marketing, product, and business operations.

Evogene: How This Company Is Transforming Life Science Product Development

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 13, 2024

Evogene is a leading computational biology company focused on revolutionizing life-science product development. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Evogene’s Executive Vice President of Business Development Eyal Ronen.

FLO: $136 Million Raised To Expand North American Charging Network

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 13, 2024

North American electric vehicle (EV) charging network operator and smart charging solutions provider FLO announced it has secured $136 million in long-term capital, principally from a Series E equity financing, led by Export Development Canada (EDC), to support the company's continued growth in the U.S. and Canada and accelerate the deployment of its reliable charging network.

Cyberhaven: $88 Million Secured To Protect Enterprise Data

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 13, 2024

Cyberhaven, a leader in data detection and response (DDR), announced it has raised $88 million in Series C funding led by Adams Street Partners and Khosla Ventures, with significant participation from existing investors Redpoint Ventures, Costanoa Ventures, Vertex Ventures, Crane Venture Partners, and Wing Venture Capital. Prominent security leaders such as Amol Kulkarni (former CPO at CrowdStrike), Gerhard Eschelbeck (former CISO at Google), Ash Devata (former GM of Duo at Cisco), and others also participated.

XONA: Zero-Trust User Access Company Raises $18 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 13, 2024

XONA, a developer of a leading zero-trust user access platform for industrial operations, announced the closing of an $18M strategic funding round led by established cyber investor Energy Impact Partners (EIP), bringing the company's total funding to $32 million.

Mad Mobile: Restaurant And Retail Payment Solutions Company Secures $50 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 13, 2024

Mad Mobile, a restaurant and retail SaaS and payment solutions company, announced the closure of a $50 million financing agreement. This funding (managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and Bridge Bank) will be strategically utilized to amplify the expansion of its SaaS and payment technologies, refinance existing debts, and drive sales growth.

Voodoo Buying BeReal For €500 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 13, 2024

France-based mobile and game publisher company Voodoo announced it has acquired BeReal for €500 million. In connection with the acquisition, BeReal co-founder and CEO Alexis Barreyat will leave the company following a transition period. And Wizz CEO Aymeric Roffé (a Voodoo social media app) will become BeReal’s CEO.